Tuesday, April 22, 2014

For The Sake of Revenge by D L Altha (ARC Review)An Alaskan Vampire NovelPublished June 30, 2013 by Foxboro Press5 BLOODY FANGS!!!"They say everything eventually comes full circle, so indeed does Revenge."Summary -

How far was Tamara willing to go for the sake of revenge? And who would pay the price? She didn’t know as she tipped the bottle of vampire blood up to her lips but she was about to find out.

Stepping off the ferry in Sitka, Alaska was bittersweet for Tamara Semenov. A decade earlier she had abandoned her mother and high school sweetheart, Peter, to marry a man she hardly knew only to find herself in an abusive relationship. Now ten years later, she had escaped with her life but at what cost. Her mother was dead.

Although the police had ruled her mother’s death an accident, Tamara was convinced her estranged husband was to blame and to make matters worse, she knows she is his next target.

While putting her mother’s affairs in order, Tamara finds the blood of a vampire named Adrik, who as a human was falsely accused of raping a wealthy Russian heiress and excommunicated from the Church. For the sake of revenge, he willing condemned himself to vampirism.

Learning that the blood could tie the living to the undead, Tamara seeks out a connection with the long buried vampire in hopes of striking a deal, his freedom for her revenge. Will he be the edge she needs to out maneuver her estranged husband or will she become entangled in a two century old web of revenge? (Goodreads)

Review -

For The Sake Of Revenge was the first print (yes, a good old fashioned paper back, they still make them) ARC sent to me for review, from the Author herself, since beginning this blog. The only disappointment is that it took me so long to get a chance to start it. This novel was Gothic Horror at its finest, a tragic tale with no happy ending. I loved it! Altha has proved to be right in league with both Bram Stoker and Anne Rice, using the Russian legend of Vampirism. A tale of revenge two hundred years in the making proving that once revenge begins, it never truly ends. So if you plan on plotting vengeance against someone at all costs, going so far as selling your very soul, keep in mind that may not only come back to bite you, but those that you hold dear.

Tamara is just like any other girl living in a small town, so desperate to make an escape she could see how good she truly had it. That escape comes in the form a tall, dark and handsome stranger, an abusive one. It may have taken Tamara ten years, but once she truly saw a reflection of what had become of her she took made plans to get away, and she did. But as with most cases, her husband, Joel, was not going to let her go easily. And he is willing to kill anyone standing in his way. When that someone ends up being Tam's Mother she will stop at nothing to have her vengeance meted out, even if that means unleashing the Devil himself. So, when she comes across some old family secrets and a trunk that holds her key to revenge.

Adrik's tale was one that was doomed from the very beginning. Born into a life a serfdom, he never truly had any free will, but he did have his pride and his religion. When both were stripped from him after being falsely accused of rape, a rage so fierce begins to consume him until he can think of nothing more than obtaining revenge, even if that means digging his own grave and lying in it. What he doesn't know is that his fate was sealed when someone else set to have revenge against him. And though he swears on everything that he will never hurt the only man he was ever able to call friend, in the very end he does just that.

While this may not be an action packed book, there is plenty of blood and gore, and a very Dark tale filled with plenty of chills to snake down readers' spines. Oh, and the ending is one that is truly satisfying as it is unpredictable. So readers who are fans of true vampires; tragic, bloody and deadly, this is a definite must-read.